Trust
by The Red Harlequin On The Luna
Summary: Ace decides to pull a 'harmless' prank on the overworked Marco to help him 'loosen up'. He almost wished he hadn't. Almost. (Dedicated to the Share-The-Love Month tumblr event and my beta Mai Kusakabe!)


Welcome to my second oneshot (the last one was also a MarcoAce XD) and third ever story 'Trust'! This story was originally formed and tributed to my dearest beta and amazing and brilliant friend 'Mai Kusakabe'! I decided to post it for Aerle's and MyLadyDay's 'Share-The-Love' month event!

The Guidelines for the event state: "_The theme for this event is **t****he elements **(any kind you can think of, so the four elements, but also chemicals or sub-categories of the 4 elements)." _So my chosen element for this oneshot is 'Water'! Why? See for yourself.

* * *

Ace grinned as he ran through the woods, glancing back ever so often to see if the other was chasing him. He was so focused on what was behind him that he didn't see what was in front of him when he slammed into the one he'd been running from.

'_Damnit, Thatch was supposed to keep him busy!'_ He rubbed his head and grinned up at the Whitebeard's first commander. "Hey, Marco! How's it going?"

The almost sleepy looking man replied so calmly that it alarmed the fireman. "Going alright, I guess. Nice night, so I decided to take a walk, get a way from the paperwork."

Ace stared at the other for a long moment. Maybe the other didn't know yet.

"Um yeah, it is a nice night! I was, uh, just heading to the hot springs on this island! They even have a heated _waterfall_!" The younger man actually was excited to take advantage of this island's attractions, he just hadn't intended on going there _tonight_. He was too busy making sure he stayed out of sight of the older man until his latest prank had blown over.

"Ah, so I heard. I'll come with you then. Which way?" The question was spoken in that same calm, almost tired, tone.

Ace flailed slightly for a moment before walking in almost the opposite direction he had been running in. "This way."

Ace looked over his shoulder again for what felt like the umpteenth to nervously keep an eye on the older man. While the blond hadn't showed any signs whatsoever of irritation or any of his usual twitches that would signal his temper rising, Ace wasn't one to let his guard down so soon.

"So." The fireman had to keep from jumping out of his skin. "Where have you been? I didn't really see you at dinner, and when we hit land, I heard you ran off for some reason. Thatch said you were eager to see the island?" So Thatch had talked to him.

The fire user relaxed slightly and spoke. "Uh, yeah, I did. Some of the guys had already went ahead to check it out, Izou took a group to do the scouting, ya know..." He was rambling, as Marco more than likely was the one who organized the scout party himself.

When they turned a corner of rock, Ace was hit in the face by a blast of hot steam. It didn't bother him in the least as his devil fruit automatically adapted his body to it.

"Nice!" The dark haired youth grinned at the sight that met them as the older man walked up behind him to look as well. Marco whistled lowly, impressed as well.

Instead of small pools of naturally heated water, there were deep and shallow parts of a small lake, fed by a large waterfall that was putting off a huge amount of steam. It was both a bathhouse and a sauna all in one.

Ace ran forward and carefully slid down the rocky slope to the stone terrain surrounding the hot spring.

Once he got to the water's edge, he looked for a shallow spot then kicked off his boots and removed his clothes, before stepping into the heated water. He waded into the water until it hit the line just above his groin. "_Damn_ this is nice."

It was the closest a devil fruit user could get to a nice hot bath without feeling the affects of their inherent weakness.

Ace looked up and made his way carefully over to the waterfall, he moved over into a more shallow area, reaching his knees, before moving to stand beneath some of the waterfall's outer spray. It was like taking a light shower and a shallow bath all in one.

He stayed there and relaxed to enjoy the great advantages of this island.

Ace would have liked to stay there for the rest of the day if he hadn't suddenly been cuffed with seastone, knocked over the head, and dragged over to the deeper end while he'd been dazed.

When he got his bearings, he had been carefully moved to a rock edge, in water almost up to his chest, his feet barely touching the spring's floor. The dark haired boy felt the full affects of his devil fruit's fatal flaw draining him, he could at best wiggle a bit. Ace felt his heart almost stop for a moment when he heard the cool and relaxed voice speak softly in his ear.

"And now it's time for a well deserved punishment, yoi. Don't you think, Ace?"

Marco had been fuming since he'd knocked out Thatch for preventing him from following Ace, he'd watched the troublemaker disappear into the forest and had carefully tracked him to get in front of the boy.

The others had been on him about working too much and had thought it would be funny to switch out his usual ink with trick ink. Three long reports that he had spent most of last night on had just appeared blank after he'd woken from a nap.

He had instinctively narrowed it down to either Thatch or a certain freckled youth. So when his best friend had come up to him to try and distract him from a certain fleeing fire user, he singled out the culprit.

At first, he had just thought of kicking the brat's ass and banning him from the kitchen at night, but halfway through catching up to the fire brat, he decided to double back to pick up a few things. Marco acknowledged that he really had been working too much, as for the last two weeks now, he hadn't had any time to 'devote' to Ace, which he admittedly did feel a measure of guilt for.

Still didn't mean he didn't want to deliver some well deserved payback to the little brat.

No, the phoenix had just decided to be a bit more 'creative' with his method of punishment. Something that they would both enjoy.

Though not too much, for a certain second commander it still had to be a 'punishment', after all.

So after the first commander had caught up to the wayward crewmember, the blond had played it cool and lulled the youth into a sense of false security until he found the right moment to strike.

Marco had had to restrain himself from abandoning the plan altogether when his young lover had suddenly stripped and waded nude into the spring. His eyes had stayed glued to Ace's wet, and naked, form as the steam caused water droplets to gather and drip down to collect at the curve of his ass, before smoothing further downwards still to trace his thighs.

He had wanted to drag the boy out of the water and follow the paths the droplets had made with his tongue. Lap at the smooth and sensitive skin that he knew would redden with every little pinch and bite an-

The phoenix really had been working too much.

He shook his head to clear it and saw his chance. He stripped off his clothes and, swiftly performing a partial transformation, flew gracefully across the water to deliver a glancing kick to the back of the fire user's head to stun. In the confusion, he secured the seastone cuffs, that he'd had carefully bundled up in his pocket to avoid any accidents, to his younger lover's wrist.

The blond proceeded to clamp his taloned foot around one tanned shoulder and drag the youth to a deeper part of the water next to a stone ledge that would do just nicely for the plan forming in his mind.

Once Ace stopped sputtering and regained focused, the older man couldn't resist teasing him a bit, but really it was only a small thing when compared to what he had in store.

He produced a dagger, ignoring the slightly panicked look the other gave him, and, after imbuing the tip with a bit of haki, drove it into the rock beneath him and used it to secure the other cuff.

"There, now we don't have to worry about a thing." The blond gave a terrifyingly friendly smile to his unwillingly docile lover. "Now we can just focus on _you_."

Ace was fucked. And not even in the good way. He was well and truly fucked as he stared weakly up at the older pirate. "M-marco? I-i can explain, I jus-"

A single finger was rested on his lips, silencing him from further attempts to save himself. "Relax Ace, it's alright, yoi. I understand that I've been working a lot lately."

Fingers were gently dragged through his dark locks in a petting motion. "And that I haven't been paying you as much attention as I should." Ace nodded slowly, he really had been frustrated by the older man's dismissals of him for stupid paperwork.

"So I can understand why you felt the need to get rid of the thing that was standing between us." At this the younger pirate tried to speak, but was again silenced. "But the way you went about things was very childish. So instead of beating you down and punishing you like I would any of our other men, I decided to deal with the offense as your lover instead of your superior."

Ace suddenly had a sinking feeling that he didn't think was from the fact that he was half submerged in water and cuffed with seastone. "P-punishment?"

Marco smiled like they were having a nice normal conversation. "Yep. But don't think of this as a punishment really. Just think of it as you getting my personal attention like you so badly wanted."

The fireman really wasn't liking where this was going.

"So you just sit back and enjoy, and let me do all the work, yoi." The older man was really enjoying how pale the brat had gotten.

With the talking over with, Marco set to work.

He lowered himself to lay on his stomach and submerged his hands in the water to gently trace his fingers over the sensitive places on his helpless lover's chest. The blond began to gently nuzzle the tanned neck before him, biting lightly on tense muscles and sucking on the soft spots he knew Ace loved.

The phoenix kept it up for a good few minutes until the other twitched slightly in protest, he knew that if the younger man had the strength that he would be writhing and demanding the 'old man' to get to it already. He chuckled at the weak but irritable whine that emitted from the fire brat.

Deciding to push forward, Marco placed one more bite on the erogenous zone, just below his lover's ear, before moving forward and sinking his arms deeper into the water to tease a much more sensitive place. He refused to directly stroke the half hard cock like Ace obviously wanted him to, and only rubbed at the base.

The blond splayed his fingers out before locking them beneath the tightening sack and around the hilt of the quickly hardening length. He massaged the flesh in his hand, never going further up to touch the more tantalizing parts of the boy's shaft.

Ace let out soft hisses and tried to speak, to reason with the older man, anything to just get him to stop /playing/ with him.

The phoenix chuckled and continued despite his lover's displeasure until the dark haired youth was fully hard and he could feel abdomen muscles straining. The languid blond smirked softly and began to jostle Ace's sack and his cock roughly with short fast little strokes around his base. He greatly enjoyed the deep reddening of the younger man's face at the lewd sloshing of water as his cock was toyed with.

The blond watched through the water as best he could, the minerals and heat bubbles in the water making it cloudy, loving the sight of his lover's cock being used like a plaything. He hummed gently at the little whispered pleas in his ear, only answering with light kisses to water and sweat drenched locks.

"Okay, I think that's enough of that for now." He could only grin at the sigh of relief that came from the fireman. "I think we can finally move on to the next stage." Marco chuckled when he felt Ace tense back up again.

"Now." He pressed his lips to the boy's ear. "I'm going to bring you up and turn you around, when I say so, take a deep breath. If you don't do everything I say, if you try to get away, I'll leave you dangling, chained with seastone, naked with a little pink bow around your hard cock from the mast. Deal?" After a soft whimper the other nodded quickly.

Marco smiled and planted the first kiss on the fireman's lips since they had started. He let it deepen and slowly sucked on the tongue that entered into his own mouth for a minute. Finally, he pulled away and started dragging the second commander out of the water, the chain long enough to provide as much slack as he wanted.

The phoenix positioned the fire brat on his knees with his upper half bent over and hovering above the water, his free hand having nowhere to brace or hold onto. Marco paused and spoke seriously. "Ace," The dark haired man looked over his shoulder sluggishly. "Do you trust me? If you say no, this stops and we can just go back to the ship. You have that choice."

Ace didn't fully understand why the other would bring this up, but of course he trusted him. He trusted the older man with his life, his heart, and everything he had. So while he didn't know why Marco was asking this, he gave his honest answer, making sure to look the other in the eyes.. "Yes, I trust you."

The blond relaxed and smiled, bringing the fire user back to his chest and softly kissed him, his younger lover's trust warming his heart greatly. He pulled away and whispered. "Okay, if something happens, and you want things to stop, just make a fist and raise your pointer finger, alright?"

When Ace nodded in agreement he continued. "Now, take a deep breath."

The dark haired man hesitated but took in as much air as he could. Marco fished out a oddly shaped bit of coral that kind of looked like a small flute. The blond blew on one end and a bubble emerged from the tip, he placed it around Ace's head then promptly turned him back around and placed his entire upper half into the water.

Ace gasped once he was immersed in the hot spring, he instinctively panicked for a moment but calmed when he felt a hand gently rub his back, signaling that it was okay and he wasn't alone. He could breath and wasn't going to drown. He was safe with Marco.

The fireman finally relaxed and now just felt the tiredness from the seastone that was still attached to him and the water itself draining him. It wasn't actually a bad experience once he disregarded the sluggishness. The warm water surrounding him was soothing and not something he had been able to enjoy for a very long time. He wondered though why Marco would do something li-

The freckled boy yelped and felt his face turn a bright hot crimson.

Marco chuckled at the jolt that had gone through the fire brat from the light slap to the smooth ass in front of the blond. He had placed his lover on his knees before pushing him under, then after making sure the other was fine, he knocked them apart and spread them wider, both giving him better access to what he wanted and made leaning over easier on his brat.

The phoenix smirked and made a show of 'inspecting' the other man, using his thumbs to pry apart the cheeks of the younger man's ass to look at the dark pink hole, gently prodded with fingers that were only wet with water to stretch open the muscles for a 'peek' inside. The fireman's hole was a little red but nice and clean, most likely having taken a shower before he'd left this morning.

He grinned at just how 'clean' his brat liked to be, and how much fun the younger man had with the process during his longer than needed showers.

Marco let it close and moved his hands down to turn and gently twist the fire user's sensitive organs, carefully giving little pinches to the sack and thumbing the swollen crown of Ace's cock. He collected the pre-cum that had begun to dribble from the playful inspection and tasted it with a hum. He was a little curious of the fact that it was a little sweeter than last time, not by much but noticeably, he made a note to ask about it later.

The older pirate tossed the little pack he'd had tied to his waist to the ground next to him. He pawed through a few of the objects before picking up the small jar of lube, he had spent a little extra a few weeks ago to procure some of the expensive edible kind but hadn't had the chance to use it yet.

The phoenix hummed as he opened the jar and set it aside to first splay the folds of his lover's ass open, the blond kept it nice and wide before scooping up some of the slick liquid and started to paint the tight entrance, smoothing the lubrication up and down the whole crease.

Marco glanced down at his lover's visible hand to make sure everything was still fine before refocusing on his current task. The blond pulled his hand away from the lightly stretched entrance and used it to help keep his lover open.

Ace was breathing heavily from all the teasing and careful preparation, he groaned when the finger pulled away, leaving his hole twitching angrily at the lack of attention. But he gasped when he felt something thicker and much warmer probe at his passage, before wiggling in and exploring.

He tried to push back onto the appendage but was denied with a harsh smack to one of his cheeks. He whimpered almost pitifully at how cruel Marco was being, so slow and teasing every step of the way. Ace made a mental vow to never mess with the man's paperwork again.

He'd just get Thatch to do it instead.

Marco lapped at and thrust his tongue into the greedy passage, liking the taste of both his lover's intimate flesh and the butterscotch flavored slick. He loved the shivering of Ace's thighs and muscles and took a moment to lightly rake his nails down them, teasing the sensitive skin.

The phoenix then pressed his tongue as far in as it could go, teasing the outer ring with his lips and teeth, something that had sent the fire user bucking madly despite the constant drain on his body.

The pirate drew back and licked his lips of the sweet taste before grabbing the next item. He grasped the red and throbbing flesh between Ace's legs and began to tie the small and intricate velvet robe around both the base of his brat's cock and his sack. One loop served to prevent orgasm and the other prevented the testicles from drawing up to the groin during climax.

Even though Marco couldn't actually hear it, he just knew that his fiery brat was close to sobbing at the new addition, and he felt his own cock twitch at the image. This punishment really had brought out the more sadistic side of himself quite a bit. In a slight show of sympathy, he smoothed his hand up and down the younger man's back, taking the moment to give the fireman a short and soothing massage.

Once done, he leaned over and pressed a tender kiss to the dark haired boy's spine, then mouthed the small knobs along his tanned back, something he knew were erogenous zones for Ace, until he met the swell of his ass.

The blond bit deeply into the firm tight flesh, enough to bruise but just short of breaking skin. He retracted his teeth and laved the area with his tongue for a moment before moving away.

Marco took a moment to lean back and admire his work.

The bite mark was already starting to turn a dark color, both thighs were shaky and the cheeks of his ass were slightly red from the abuse at the blond's hands, and they were slightly parted to reveal the glistening and stretched hole.

Beautiful.

There was just one thing that could make this an even prettier picture.

He reached back to the scattered items, pulling the jar closer and picking up a rather large object. He slathered the phallic toy with the lubricant before teasing the opening with the tip, letting Ace think he was finally getting a taste of the older man's cock, before the blond rubbed the ribbed length along the slick valley of the younger man's ass.

Ace wanted to thrash and whine, demand that the old blue chicken just fuck him already, he wasn't happy with how the phoenix had gotten his hopes up with whatever he was teasing him with, and wanted desperately to retaliate despite knowing it was impossible at the moment.

The freckled man whined at the injustice of his situation, Marco hadn't even let him fully explain his deceptive prank.

He gasped when the blond seemed to have had enough with playing with the helpless fireman in this manner and had pushed in the tip of whatever object he was using.

Marco smirked as he watched the long and thick anal plug slide in carefully, he had selected the model because of the interesting cat like spines that ribbed along the shaft, as well as a somewhat large false 'knot' that would hold it in place until the older pirate decided to remove it.

Once he'd pushed it in fully, applying more slick and gently massaging the outer ring of muscle to loosen it enough to take the knot, the phoenix gave it a few careful thrusts to get his lover used to it.

The blond hummed in satisfaction and decided to make his brat a more active participant.

Ace was currently choking on nothing but air at the large and oddly textured intrusion that had been forced into his ass, he felt incredibly full and the little bumps on it rubbed abrasively against his prostate, making him see stars.

He was finally getting used to it when he was dragged out of the water and forced to sit on it, driving it even deeper.

Marco settled the fireman between his legs with his tattooed back against the blond's own similarly marked chest. He popped the bubble and gently began placing soft kisses on the gasping boy's face, and stroked his hands up and down the fireman's sides.

Once Ace had stopped shaking, the older man gave him a proper kiss, happy when the gesture was returned eagerly. The kiss was much more heated than the last ones, tongues tangled roughly and teeth bit with almost bruising strength. When they parted, they were both panting, a small string of saliva connecting their tongues.

The younger man finally whined and rubbed weakly back against the first mate, begging to be touched.

"Pleeease?" He whispered softly. The brat wickedly rubbed himself back against the stiffness pressed against the curve of his ass.

"Hmmm, maybe." The blond ground his neglected erection against the younger man's ass. "If you're good." Marco kissed a pouting cheek.

Ace growled quietly in complaint, not happy that the trend of denying him was obviously still ongoing.

He shifted to try to turn and talk to Marco, but whimpered at the sparks of pleasure that went through him when the toy twisted inside of him. The fireman panted and leaned against the older man.

The phoenix rubbed a hand up and down his lover's back. "Are you alright?" He relaxed when the younger man nodded. "Good. Then I won't hold back."

Marco enjoyed the yelp that emitted from his brat when he moved him to sit on the blond's knee, placing much more direct pressure on the toy inside him, pushing it that much deeper.

He picked a spot and started sucking on the fireman's neck, running a hand over the tanned chest while the other palmed the frustrated cock of his lover. "Feels nice doesn't it?" He dug his thumb into the wet tip, firmly sliding over the slit. The blond brought his other hand down to squeeze the tight sack playfully as he continued to speak.

"I've always wondered how far I could push you given the chance. I wondered how much I could fill you up and how long I could keep you on edge until you begged me to let you cum. It'll be interesting to see, don't you think, brat?"

Marco didn't wait for a reply before he began jostling his knee, bouncing his lover lightly but knowing the shifting must be moving and pistoning the hell out of the fake cock stuffed inside his fire brat.

The blond continued to toy with Ace's sensitive parts until his lover was a panting and sobbing mess, low and breathy pleading made its way to his ears, signaling that the older man was set to push forwards to the second to last stage.

The phoenix whispered wickedly into his younger lover's ear. "Do you wanna cum, Ace?" At the vicious nodding of the dark haired boy's head, Marco smirked. "Then do exactly as I say."

Ace whimpered, both worrying and anticipating what the older man had in store, but nodded again slowly.

The firestarter soon found himself on his hands and knees, then pushed gently to his elbows so his ass was lewdly raised high in the air once more. He felt Marco's hands smooth over his lower body, softly caressing his thighs, bottom, and lower back.

"You look good like this, yoi." The older devil fruit user hummed and enjoyed tracing meaningless patterns over the shaking body of his younger lover.

Finally, the blond moved his hand to grasp the slightly protruding handle of the false cock currently filling his lover and /twisted/ it while pushing down on a button. Amazingly, the whole shaft began to vibrate furiously inside of the fireman.

Soft choking sounds emitted from the dark haired man, his spine had snapped up into an almost painful looking arch. Marco cocked his head and watched raptly as his brat helplessly began to rock back as hard as he could to impale himself further on the fake cock.

"Feel nice? I can make it go faster." The phoenix did just that and dialed up the speed and power as he slammed the shaft roughly into the brat's ass.

"You really do like it rough, yoi." He said over the strangled gasps coming from Ace. "I bet I could do this for the rest of the day and you'd just egg me on, call me an old man just to get me to give it to you that much harder." It happened often, so it pleased him to see the little troublemaker so weak and docile with pleasure. It certainly made the fireman much more manageable.

"M-mar-marcooo..." The younger man whimpered as his cock continued to twitch and throb madly, angrily demanding release despite its bound state. "P-please? I-I'm _sorry_, o-okay? I-I won't do it again, jus-just _pleeease_... _Please?!_" He sobbed, a heat that had nothing to do with his flames building in his face as tiny pinpricks of liquid gathered at the corners of his eyes.

The seemingly cruel blond reached forward and caught his lover's downcast face in his hand, angling towards himself. His breath caught at the utterly erotic sight. The tanned youth's face was crimson, tears of strain had begun to drip down softly, reddened lips torn and swollen from chewing, and his eyes were unfocused from a pleasurable high.

Marco leaned forward and softly kissed the abused lips, the gentleness not mirrored by his hand as he roughly yanked out the toy cock, causing his lover to cry out and giving the blond the opportunity to deepen the kiss.

When the phoenix pulled back to look at Ace, he spoke gently as he carded his fingers through sweat drenched locks. "I think you've learned your lesson, don't you?" The fire user sobbed and nodded vigorously. "I can't hear you, brat."

The younger man took a few gasping breaths, trying to ignore just how achingly /empty/ his ass felt without anything in it, and how badly he needed something to fill it, preferably by his lover. "Y-yes."

The lightest smack was delivered to Ace's cock, but it sent a lightening bolt of pleasure/pain through him, causing him to give a soundless scream. "Yes, /what/, brat?"

The dark haired youth whimpered before trying again. "Y-yes, _sir_?" Ace sighed in relief when his answer was rewarded with a firm stroke to his aching cock.

"Good, you should always show respect for your elders." Marco teased lightly as he continued to fist the younger man's dripping and throbbing erection.

After a few moments, the fireman started to fuss again and the blond relented. He put Ace on his back and positioned himself between the other's tanned thighs. After coating his length quickly with lube, he used his hand to line himself up and push the head of his cock into the bound youth, then spread the fireman's thighs further and quickly sheathed himself in one thrust.

Ace moaned in satisfaction at being full again and squeezed himself around the older man's cock. He sighed happily at the quick pace Marco set, obviously his lover was much more affected by issuing Ace's 'punishment' than he let on, and the fireman knew instinctively that the blond wouldn't last long.

The old man just needed a _little_ encouragement.

"Mmmm, M-marcooo!" The dark haired man managed to lift his arm and wrap it around the other's neck. "F-faster! Please? Feels _so_ good!" He squeezed his inner muscles tighter.

The phoenix let out a soft hiss, he knew what the brat was doing, and couldn't really bring himself to mind. He spoke through gritted teeth. "Oh? Should have known that just being stuffed full once wasn't enough, maybe I should have just left that big cock inside you and had you suck me off. We could still do that."

Marco smirked slightly, a bit of the strain beginning to show. "I can see it now, bent over, ass in the air, that nice 'little' toy shoved deep in your tight hole going full blast, and with my cock down your throat. You'd love it."

He loved seeing the effects his words were having on the other, it's why he loved taking Ace in face up position the best. The brat couldn't hide all the little expressions he made at being spoken to in such a filthy way.

His brat couldn't hide just how much he loved it.

"Marco! Please, take it off! I-I wanna cum! _Please_?"

The blond smirked before kissing the pleading youth. He picked up the pace even further, thrusting so hard that if Marco hadn't kept Ace pinned that they would have moving across the rock with the force the older man was putting into fucking his lover.

Once Ace started thrashing and digging the nails of his free hand into the blond's back, the older pirate finally dipped a hand between them to pull on a piece of the knot that bound his lover's cock and unraveled half of it, the blond continuing to nail the younger man's prostate.

That and one swift stoke to his cock was all the fireman needed as he cried out, back arching as he screamed.

Marco cursed at how tight the other had suddenly become, the inner muscles contracting tightly and fluttering in a delicious sensation along his cock. He followed his lover's climax quickly after only a few quick thrusts.

The blond collapsed and panted on top of the younger man before he regained enough feeling in his body to pull out and scoot to the side. It took a while longer to get his breathing under control and he finally checked on his brat.

Ace was floating on a cloud, or at least it felt like it. He was utterly weightless and was filled with a pleasant buzz. The fireman hummed when he distantly felt a hand push his bangs out of his face, he felt lips press shakily to his forehead and opened his eyes, not even remembering when they had fallen shut.

"You okay?" Marco rested next to his lover, looking as sleepy as ever, and just enjoyed the afterglow and the closeness with his brat.

Ace nodded slowly, still feeling light-headed. He took a deep if shaky breath before speaking. "Arm's a little sore." The phoenix blinked as if just remembering and quickly reached over to the bag to produce a key, he carefully unlocked the cuff and brought the bruised wrist to his mouth, gently running his lips over it in a silent apology.

"S'fine, don't worry about it." Ace murmured and snuggled closer to the older man to bury his face in the blond's shoulder. "Totally worth it."

Marco chuckled and nuzzled the dark mop of hair, kissing it affectionately. "You're an incorrigible brat."

The spitfire smirked. "And you love it."

The phoenix nodded genially. "I do." He sighed. "I really do wish you had found a better way to get my attention though than destroying a whole night's worth of work. And I had just finished too."

Ace actually frowned reproachfully. "I didn't destroy it! That's what I was trying to tell you earlier."

Marco blinked at the fireman. "Are you really going to tell me Thatch did it? Sorry to inform you, but for what he lacks in sense, he makes up for in self-preservation."

After snorting, the firestarter actually pouted. "No, I'm not. I'm saying it's _not_ gone. I may be a 'brat', but I'm not a jerk."

The blond tilted his head in confusion. "Sorry, but it looked pretty 'gone' to me."

Ace's face brightened. "It's invisible ink."

"...Invisible what?"

"Invisible ink!" If the dark haired boy had a tail, it would be wagging.. "I found it on the last island we stopped at! You write with it, then when it dries, it disappears!"

The phoenix eyed the excited youth. "Why would anyone want their writing to disappear? Other than pranks, I don't see it being very useful."

The firestarter pouted. "I'm not finished! You write with it and it turns _invisible_. But! When you hold it over a candle, or put lemon juice or something on it, it shows back up! I got it for you as a present and thought I'd make a little joke... But you don't like it." Suddenly the brat looked like a kicked puppy.

And Marco felt like a complete asshole.

"Um hey, no, no I like it. It's just, I didn't know it came back." The blond angled the other's face up to look at him and gave the younger man a slow, deep, kiss. They pulled away with a quiet 'pop'. "I like it..."

Ace smiled. "Good." He stretched and yawned, wincing as the raw skin of his back ground into the stone slab. "Think we should head back?"

Marco nodded and looked up at the sun. They had left about late morning and now the sun was close to setting. "Dinner will be ready soon and we should catch a shower, maybe a change of clothes. Afterwards, we can just stay in. Pops won't mind."

Ace grinned. "We can just shower here." He gestured to the waterfall.

The older man shrugged. "Works for me." He leaned down once more to press a kiss to the fireman's forehead.

The firestarter sighed. "Today was good. And the sex was _damn_ good." Ace suddenly smirked wickedly. "For an _old man."_

**_"Brat."_**


End file.
